Shadwen

Shadwen indeed sets the bar fairly high for stealth based games with its unique approach on real-time/turn-based gameplay. It lacks content and deserves more well thought out alternative gameplay moments, but overall we are talking about a fine game here which wears its heart on its sleeve.

Despite its problematic narrative, Shadwen is a very unique game that breathes new life into a genre that hasn’t seen much development in a while.

Shadwen is the kind of game that has the recipe to succeed. The use of time manipulation in a stealth game may make this a title that's intended for those just coming into the genre, but the approach is interesting enough to warrant a look. Bland level design and presentation along with a poor AI system for the guards makes the experience too rudimentary, and the lack of enemy variety can make things feel repetitive rather quickly. Ultimately, Shadwen has potential — but not in this incarnation.

One big escort mission where toying with laughable AI becomes a game in a game. [08/2016, p.68]

The quality and your enjoyment of the game varies greatly during its running time, as Shadwen occasionally offers moments of gameplay brilliance while most of the time it just falls flat. If you do manage to endure it, you do get rewarded, but it is too high of a demand when playing the game feels more like a chore.

Shadwen begins with promise, but has neither the depth nor the variety needed to fulfill it.

With more time to flesh out the world and, most importantly, a more creative progression of challenges to match your skill, this could have been a special game. Instead, just as its titular character is trapped in time by default, Shadwen is a stealth game forever trapped in a state of adolescence.

Nevertheless, a satisfying game in doses, Shadwen does enough to warrant repeat returns and while it lacks visibility beyond the central pillar that is its gameplay, it’s said gameplay that keeps the game from fading completely out of sight.

Shawden is influenced by great games, such as Thief, Prince of Persia and Superhot, but the mixture is not correctly done, so this new game by Frozenbyte has some issues that affect its value.

Shadwen is capable of the best and worst. Frozenbyte has created an interesting stealth and assassination game with some unique gameplay mechanics, but an awful AI and a rather limited action ruins a potentially promising premise.

After the failure of Trine 3 Frozenbyte was in urgent need for a new hit but Shadwen with its clumsy flirtation with stealth and obsolete technologies clearly can’t claim the status. [Issue#210, p.81]

Acrobatics on medieval galleries has its charm, but is far from perfection. The stealth game is more action than tactical and it leads to stereotype that authors even feed with many technical and conceptual mistakes.

Shadwen, unfortunately, has proved to be a messy bunch of ideas, unable to involve the player in its narrative context, which could be interesting, but has been developed too superficially. Same goes for the gameplay mechanics, made of concepts taken from other games and put together almost with no consistency.

Shadwen is a flawed experience, but can be an enjoyable treat if you love stealth-games with interesting mechanics and effective level design.

In theory Shadwen sounds interesting. But in reality this expedition into stealth-action from the makers of Trine suffers from problems within AI, controls and the general flow of the game.

It will take you around 6 hours to beat Shadwen, but I suggest you avoid it altogether. This game is not worth your time.

Basically Shadwen is an imaginative game, which is unfortunately spoiled by technical flaws, monotonous environment and total need for fine-tuning of most game elements. [Issue#264]

Shadwen's biggest problem is not the execution, but an excess of ideas. Frozenbyte tried to include various mechanics and concepts, prioritizing quantity, not quality. It seems the game would be better without the shallow emotional story and time-stopping system. Gameplay is more often annoying than fun.

I've seen lots of indie games better than Shadwen which has been created by an experienced studio. For me - after the premiere of Trine 3 - Frozenbyte wasn't in a good place and right now it seems it has lost its way completely. Shadwen uses some good ideas (like SUPERHOT's time meddling) but the complete package is simply weak and uninspired.

I’m really disappointed in Shadwen and certainly wouldn’t recommend it, but it’s still difficult for me to write it off completely. If you can get through the wonky controls, the pants AI, and the visual stylings that are just a blur of identical guards and barrels, and the endless escort mission featuring the most annoying little girl ever, there are small glimmers of a good game shining out from the cracks.